Just 2 days after the tragedy in Andalusia, there was a new train accident in Spain: a regional Catalan Rodalies train derailed near Gelida (Barcelona), after colliding with a retaining wall on the AP-7 motorway, which collapsed onto the tracks probably due to heavy rain.
The accident occurred around 9.02pm yesterday, Tuesday 20 January: the train was traveling between Sant Sadurní d’Anoia and Gelida, in Catalonia, when it derailed at kilometer 64 of the Penedès line. The current toll is at least 37 injured, 5 of which are serious, while the train driver lost his life immediately after the collision. The impact, in fact, mainly affected the front part of the train, with the first carriage suffering the most damage.
The firefighters, who intervened immediately, took almost an hour to extract all the survivors.
Rail traffic was interrupted throughout Catalonia, Spain’s second most populous region and the country’s economic engine. Meanwhile, the Spanish train drivers’ union (SEMAF) has called a strike to protest against the “unacceptable deterioration of the railway lines” which has led to the deaths of three workers in less than 3 days.
According to what was reported by the authorities, the collapse of the wall occurred precisely due to the heavy rains that hit Catalonia in the last few hours due to “cyclone Harry”, which also caused damage in Southern Italy.
The storm, among other things, caused other inconveniences to the railway line, with a second derailment occurring in Maçanet (near Girona, in the north of Catalonia), fortunately without serious consequences for passengers: in this case, the accident was caused by a series of rocks that fell onto the tracks, which caused the train to come off the rails, as visible in the images below.
Given the serious events of the last few days, Adif, the state company that manages the Spanish railway infrastructure, has adopted a measure to temporarily reduce the speed of trains running on the AVE line connecting Madrid and Barcelona to 160 km/h: several train drivers, among other things, had already reported the presence of several potholes along the tracks.
